We'll focus on what Robyn and I are seeing on the ground, especially during our Pacific Northwest 2010 tour. The fun people are having, the creativity, the community spirit growing as people share gardens, tool libraries, fruit tree gleaning, local investing, disaster-prepared neighborhoods, and start localization groups like attendees at the recent Transition Cascadia 2010 summit.

We taped a Peak Moment Conversation with Mike in 2006 "Pondering our Post-Petroleum Future." He's the star of the documentary "Collapse" - (www.collapsemovie.com/) a stunning and very moving one-person narrative telling it like it is. Mike has recently formed Collapse Network, to help link together those who are creating "lifeboats" in their area for weathering the turbulence as society collapses.

From pre Hubbert's Peak Oil chart towards Transport and travel in a world where transition has taken place. A positive animation look at the future of traveling without oil fuel, in this climate changing world to where we will again be able to hear the sound of birds.

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Welcome to green video animations from Anita Sancha

I have concentrated on environment topics, planet earth, global warming and its effects on climate change, peak oil, and other issues like food, energy and transport.

I hope you like these animations, they are unusual, combining stop motion and computer graphics. They are for kids and adults alike. Please sit back and enjoy…

Pachakuti: Indigenous perspectives, degrowth and ecosocialismBob Thomson, Climate & Capitalism
... we have to talk to, learn from and support the indigenous movements which have inserted ecosocialist and degrowth like concepts into the formal constitutions of the Bolivian and Ecuadorian states, who convened the “Peoples World Conference on Climate Change and Mother Earth’s Rights” held in Cochabamba, Bolivia from April 19-22, 2010 and who presented numerous workshops and proposals at the Fourth Americas Social Forum in Asuncion, Paraguay from August 11-15, 2010.

To enter this dialogue with respect, we need an introduction to this movement, which some call the “Pachakuti”, a term taken from the Quechua “pacha”, meaning time and space or the world, and “kuti”, meaning upheaval or revolution.[1] Put together, Pachakuti can be interpreted to symbolize a re-balancing of the world through a tumultuous turn of events that could be a catastrophe or a renovation.[2] The main form that this indigenous perspective seems to be taking is the presentation of a “model” called “Live well, but not better”: Vivir Bien or Buen Vivir in Spanish, Sumak Kawsay in Quechua and Suma Qamaña in Aymara.

The following necessarily sketchy overview of some indigenous perspectives on “buen vivir” is my modest contribution to this dialogue. I hope this may encourage others to read the texts synthesized here.

Pre-colonial indigenous societies were in part organized with relationships of reciprocity and complementarity, and a respect for plurality, coexistence and equality. To be sure, there were and still are elements of inter and intra ethnic conflict, conquest and differences over tactics, and it would be dangerous to romanticize the “noble savage” and some forms of indigenous fundamentalism[3]. Nevertheless, indigenous societies offer us much to learn from, as they contain elements central to the degrowth and ecosocialist movements’ calls for a new economic, cultural, environmental and political paradigm.
(6 October 2010)

7 Steps to Civility this Election SeasonJim Wallis, God's Politics Blog
... This past spring, a diverse group of more than 100 religious leaders signed their names and committed to a “Civility Covenant” ... [which] states:

We commit that our dialogue with each other will reflect the spirit of the scriptures, where our posture toward each other is to be “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry” (James 1:19).

We believe that each of us, and our fellow human beings, are created in the image of God. The respect we owe to God should be reflected in the honor and respect we show to each other in our common humanity, particularly in how we speak to each other. “With the tongue we bless the Lord and [God], and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God … this ought not to be so” (James 3:9-10).

We pledge that when we disagree, we will do so respectfully, without falsely impugning the other’s motives, attacking the other’s character, or questioning the other’s faith, and recognizing in humility that in our limited, human opinions, “we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror” (1 Corinthians 13:12). We will therefore “be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2).

We will ever be mindful of the language we use in expressing our disagreements, being neither arrogant nor boastful in our beliefs: “Before destruction one’s heart is haughty, but humility goes before honor” (Proverbs 18:12).

We recognize that we cannot function together as citizens of the same community, whether local or national, unless we are mindful of how we treat each other in pursuit of the common good, in the common life we share together. Each of us must therefore “put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body” (Ephesians 4:25).

We commit to pray for our political leaders — those with whom we may agree, as well as those with whom we may disagree. “I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made — for kings and all who are in high positions” (1 Timothy 2:1-2).

We believe that it is more difficult to hate others, even our adversaries and our enemies, when we are praying for them. We commit to pray for each other, those with whom we agree and those with whom we may disagree, so that together we may strive to be faithful witnesses to our Lord, who prayed “that they may be one” (John 17:22).

We need to push back against the fear mongering and name calling and lead with our values.
(7 October 2010)From the Christian tradition. Other traditions have similar guidelines. For example, Buddha is reputed to have said:

Someone who is about to admonish another must
realize within himself five qualities before
doing so [that he may be able to say], thus:

In due season will I speak, not out of season.
In truth will I speak, not in falsehood.
Gently will I speak, not harshly.
To his profit will I speak, not to his loss.
With kindly intent will I speak, not in anger.

- Buddha
(Vinaya Pitaka
trans F.S. Woodward)

-BA

Wake Up Americans: It's Time to Get Off the Work TreadmillJohn de Graaf, AlterNet
... Less work, more life. It's a tradeoff that a lot of American workers might appreciate. Pollsters find time stress a constant complaint among Americans. Until the current recession, Americans were working some of the longest hours in the industrial world.

Conservatives say this is all voluntary: Americans just like to work a lot. But Gallup's daily survey finds them 20 percent happier on weekends than on workdays--what a surprise! And when Americans rank the pleasure their daily activities bring, working ends up second from the bottom (socializing after work is second from the top!), more pleasurable only than that mother of all downers, the morning commute.

By contrast, the Netherlands boasts the world's shortest working hours. Dutch workers put in 400 fewer annual hours on the job than American workers do. And yet, the Dutch economy has been very productive. Unemployment (at 5.8 percent) is much lower than in the United States, while the Netherlands boasts a positive trade balance and strong personal savings. A Gallup survey ranks the Dutch third in the world in life satisfaction, behind only the Danes and Finns, and well ahead of Americans.

The Dutch have been reducing time on the job through work-sharing policies since the 1982 Wassenaar Agreement, when labor unions agreed to modify wage demands in return for more time. Their Working Hours Adjustment Act (2000) requires that employers allow workers to cut their hours to part-time while keeping their jobs, hourly pay, health care, and pro-rated benefits.
(September 2, 2010)

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